The State Gives Me the Right Not to Do It: Reproductive Governance, Structural Violence and Barriers to Abortion Care in Türkiye

Abstract

Abortion in T & uuml;rkiye is legal through ten weeks gestation without restriction as to reason, but it is often difficult to access. In recent years Turkey has undertaken an aggressive pronatalist politics of reproduction resulting in extensive reproductive governance that regulates reproductive health care in general and abortion access in specific. This research uses nationwide data collected in 2024 from public and private hospitals to ascertain the availability of abortion in T & uuml;rkiye. Currently, less than one third of hospitals report providing abortion care but this drops to just 5.1 % for public hospitals while 50.4 % of private hospitals offer abortion services. However, the lack of availability does not rely on simply denial but encompasses a multilayered system of barriers that restrict access. While some institutions simply stated that they do not perform abortions, many others cited varying obstacles that hindered their ability to provide such care. These included declarations that abortion is illegal, doctors' refusal to perform abortions, and use of gestational limits less than the ten weeks provided in law. Adding to these barriers is the lack of available information about abortion availability, the substantial distances required to travel to access care, and the price of abortion at private hospitals. By limiting abortion access, the state undermines individual autonomy and endangers the health and safety of pregnant people. In practice, legality offers little protection: the combination of institutional refusal, misinformation, geographic and financial hurdles, and political hostility makes abortion effectively inaccessible for many. T & uuml;rkiye's case illustrates how legal rights can be hollowed out by restrictive governance, leaving reproductive freedom precarious despite formal legality.